Japanese, Intercultural Communication and Linguistics BA (Hons)

This module will introduce you to the fundamental components of linguistic study, and place your learning about these concepts within our multilingual world. We will explore the history of English as a global language, and consider how our languages have been shaped by contact with each other. You will consider the current dominance of the colonial languages, and think about the implications of this for smaller and indigenous languages, and for their speakers and natural environments. This will give you the chance to learn to use some critical discourse analysis tools, and to discover some newer areas of linguistics, such as ecolinguistics.

This module will introduce you to key ideas and concepts in the study of language and society. You will explore how language varies across different settings and users. While looking at ways of analysing differences in language, you will investigate variations in phonetics, lexicon, grammar and register. You will also consider how language is used to reflect and construct social identities.

Which language module you study will depend on your previous experience of studying Japanese. 

If you have little or no experience, you will be placed in Japanese for Communication 1. Working in pairs and groups, you will focus on communicating and expressing yourself in Japanese. This will teach you not only to speak the language but also to understand others in Japanese. You will also begin writing with the Japanese lettering systems: Hiragana, Katakana, and basic Kanji. 

If you already have A1 level equivalent knowledge on Common European Framework for Languages (CEFR), you will be placed in Japanese for Continuing Learners 1. On this module you will develop your abilities to communicate in Japanese and understand others. You will write and tell creative narratives about events in the past or future. In both speech and in writing you will describe people and places in detail and express your thoughts and opinions. 

This module is your introduction to the descriptions of grammatical structures. This means looking at word classes, sentence types, morphology and more. You will study grammatical variations in English found within the UK and in other parts of the world. By the end of the module you will have a solid understanding of the basic terminology and key concepts. 

This module introduces you to the principles of articulatory and practical phonetics. You will learn how to recognise, describe and produce a subset of the sounds of the world’s languages, using the symbols of the International Phonetic Alphabet. You will also learn basic transcription skills in English. The module provides a foundation for further linguistic study, enabling you to recognise, transcribe and analyse sounds in, for example, children’s language and varieties of English or other languages. If you are studying another language, or are interested in teaching languages including English, this module will help you to understand not only how sounds are produced by the vocal tract, but also how they fit into the context of different language systems. 

This module builds on your knowledge from your previous language module.

If you are placed in Japanese for Communication 2, you will learn to talk and write about places and people, things you have done in the past, and your thoughts and opinions. You will also take weekly kanji practice tests to help you develop your Japanese character writing. These tests do not contribute towards your grades, they are designed to help you develop your skills. 

If you are placed in Japanese for Continuing Learners 2, you will develop your understanding of Japanese by learning to talk and write about desires and plans. You will receive feedback on your writing as you start to read and write more complex sentences.

On this module you will build on the practical Japanese language skills developed in your first year. You will further develop these skills by studying different aspects of Japanese society and culture through reading and listening activities. You will learn to express yourself in both spoken and written Japanese and understand an increasing number of kanji. Through this module, you will not only improve your language skills but also learn about Japanese culture and society.

On this module we will investigate signed languages in a range of different social contexts. This will include investigating:

• Individual language use
• Learning signed languages as first or second languages
• Language evolution and the development of individual signed languages
• The political context of language use, such as the effect of racial segregation on language development, and language policies.

The module will include a range of in-class activities including experiments, presentations, group discussions and lectures.  

On this module we will introduce you to aspects of phonetics and phonology that support the analysis of varieties of language, including child phonology and languages other than English.  The module is taught using a problem-based learning workshop approach. You will learn about:

• The concept of the phoneme
• Phonotactics and syllable structure
• Transcription skills, including connected speech phenomena
• Phonological features

This module will give you a deeper understanding of how the English language is spread across the globe. You will study the history of English both in the British Isles and abroad, thinking about the social history of language change, variety and status. You will also explore the concept of standard varieties of English, and the structural variation in major international varieties of English. 

On this module you will learn about key areas of feminist and queer linguistics. We will cover different theories and approaches to the study of language, gender and sexuality, and you will learn about how some of these approaches have been applied in domains such as education, the workplace, literature and the media. Through this you will gain confidence in arguing for your own, informed position, and using the grounding you have received as a starting point for your own work and ideas.

On this module you will explore how media uses language and other communication resources to shape ideas and influence power. You will learn to analyse the choices media makes in language (and beyond) and uncover the hidden messages and beliefs woven into the ways those behind it communicate with us.

Building on the knowledge you gained studying Japanese in Use 1, this module will prepare you for daily communication through topics that will be useful in your year abroad. You will learn more about Japanese culture and society through reading and listening activities using authentic materials. You will also expand your written and verbal language skills through various activities. 

This module will deepen both your theoretical knowledge and your practical abilities in intercultural communication. You will explore the meaning of culture by studying case studies from around the world, considering how culture is represented in the media, in textbooks and in the tourist industry, as you start to understand culture beyond stereotypes. You will also learn how to develop your own communication and intercultural skills. 

This module will explore different social theories, as well as how they can be used to understand languages and our use of languages. We will explore how social theory can help us understand how language communities form, how we can define language, and how we can understand practices which challenge language norms. We will work with ideas such as crip linguistics, citizenship, imagined communities, and a wide exploration of what power means in these contexts. 

This module will introduce you to the field of forensic linguistics. You will learn how to analyse language as forensic evidence for crimes such as sexual assault, terrorism, murder and hate crimes. Applying your knowledge of linguistics, you will also look at how language is used in the justice system, from police interviews to language in the courtroom.

On this module you will learn about children’s language and literacy development. By the end of the module you will be able to perform a fine-grained analysis of children’s writing at various stages of literacy development. You will finish the module with a good understanding of what the reading and writing that children do at various ages and stages tells us about their literacy development.  You will also learn about contextual issues that impact on children’s literacy development, such as the impact of education policy and home literacy and language environments.  

On this module you will develop your awareness of the psychological underpinnings of language knowledge and use. You will learn about spoken and written language comprehension from the smallest units (phonemes and graphemes) to the biggest (sentence-level and pragmatic processing). You will also learn about the cognitive processes which underpin language production, as well as specialist weeks on topics such as emotional language and artificial intelligence. You will gain hands-on experience of psycholinguistic methods by taking part in a whole-class language experiment as one of your assessments, followed by a more traditional essay tailored to one of the topics learned about on the module. 

This module is part of your learning on your study abroad year.  It will include completing and reflecting on 10 days of work experience, either abroad or in the UK. You will focus on how your work and year abroad experiences relate to what you have studied so far, and your plans for the future.

On this module you will focus on developing your Japanese language skills for academic purposes by using Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL). You will use your linguistic research skills to analyse authentic materials such as TV shows, books, manga, video games, advertising, commercials and YouTube videos, conducting a study in an area that especially interests you. For example, you might focus on Japanese pragmatics and sociolinguistics, such as gendered language, dialects, speech acts, politeness or honorifics. Whatever topic you choose, you will write up your findings in an essay and present them verbally in Japanese. 

On this module, you will gain an advanced understanding of the role language plays in the construction and expression of a wide range of social and cultural identities. We will introduce you to social philosophy and theory concerning the nature of identity itself, before applying these theoretical ideas to analysis of the relationship between language, identities and cultures. 

On this module you will learn about the wide variety of ways attitudes to language use and language learning impact on society and individuals. We consider language hierarchies, what is known as the Complaint Tradition, and explore the notion of the Monolingual Habitus. Through these explorations, we consider how language discrimination arises in multiple contexts, and explore the potential role of the applied linguist in creating social change. 

This module introduces you to key theories of child language acquisition, with a focus on the acquisition of speech sounds. We will take workshop approach to learning about how children acquire and produce speech sounds, the typical phonological processes seen in children, and how these articulations move towards the adult system over time.  You will also learn to use specialist language acquisition applications and acoustic analysis software.

On this module you will learn about the lexical, morphological, syntactic, phonetic and phonological features of British accents and dialects. You will apply prior knowledge of phonetics, phonology and grammar to speaker data by exploring patterns of usage across a range of linguistic variables. You will also develop your skills in data collection, before completing an analytical description and comparison of your own data. 

This module will introduce you to the field of communication disorders, developing your understanding of clinical applications of linguistics, and how background understanding of linguistics works alongside clinical knowledge.  You will find out about how clinical decisions can be reached using a range of informal and formal assessments, and how communication disorder and difference impacts on people throughout their lives. 

Building on the knowledge you will have gained from your Japanese Language Project, on this module you will further develop your employability and professional skills. Through Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL), you will learn how to express yourself in context-appropriate ways in various workplace environments. Through this module, you will also reflect on the experience and skills you have gained throughout your degree, and prepare yourself for your future after graduation. 

Your dissertation is your chance to take responsibility for your own learning. You will conduct an independent piece of linguistic research on your chosen topic, with the support of an assigned tutor.  You will attend a series of skills sessions that will help you in this task by guiding you through relevant areas of linguistic research, from ethical applications to writing literature reviews. You will also have access to individual supervision meetings where you can ask for support and guidance with the design and conduct of your research and writing.